Candidates Feel the Lure of Celebrity Cash

By RUSS BUETTNER; Griff Palmer contributed reporting.

Published: February 3, 2008

They make their fortunes engineering the world's biggest deals or making hearts swoon in movie houses and concert halls. But inside their storied prewar East Side town houses and palatial downtown lofts, members of the city's power elite are grappling with the same question as the rest of the nation: Who should next occupy the White House?

Of course, the rivers of money that flow from Wall Street and Hollywood mean they can offer far more than a single vote.

Through the end of last year, the metropolitan region contributed more than $80 million to presidential aspirants. New York's singers, actors, literary lights and plutocrats wrote checks across party lines, in some cases covering their bets by running the table of candidates.

The movie heartthrob Mark Ruffalo threw some of his indie cred -- and $1,000 -- to two candidates who never made it to the mainstream, Representative Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio and former Senator Mike Gravel of Alaska. Jay McInerney, famed novelist of '80s excesses, favored the native crowd: He and his wife, the heiress Anne Hearst McInerney, gave to the campaigns of both former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

From his new Frank Gehry-designed building in Chelsea, Barry Diller, chief executive of IAC/InterActiveCorp, gave to the campaigns of Senator Barack Obama, Mrs. Clinton, Senator John McCain and Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr.

This election year, Manhattan's cultural elite has opened its pocketbooks, and homes, to the men and woman they hope to send to Washington.

Though the metropolitan area accounts for roughly 6 percent of the nation's population, its residents have so far served up contributions that total 20 percent of the money raised by all presidential candidates, according to federal campaign contribution records. It's because of those sorts of numbers that the city is known in politics more for dollars than delegates.

''You come here because there is more money on any stretch of Park Avenue from 59th Street to 96th Street than there is in most countries in the world,'' said the political consultant Hank Sheinkopf. ''In two hours you can assemble people in one room of one apartment from every major sector of the economy and the cultural world, all of whom have interest in what occurs in government.''

Democrats have raised a slightly larger portion of their total take from the area. But the second-place medal is still gold plated: Republicans raised $28.4 million here, more than the party's total in 31 states. Democrats have raised $52.3 million.

Contributions from donors in finance, insurance and real estate accounted for nearly half of the money presidential candidates collected through September in the metropolitan region, according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan campaign finance research group based in Washington.

The list includes icons of finance including Carl C. Icahn, a Giuliani donor, and Henry R. Kravis, who gave to Mr. McCain's campaign.

With contribution limits of $4,600 to each candidate, many metro households can match the donation prowess of the city's titanic earners. A public school teacher from Baldwin, on Long Island, donated $2,300 to Mr. Obama's campaign -- more than the $2,100 contribution to the Obama campaign made by George Soros, the legendary financier and billionaire.

But those limits also make it easy for the extremely wealthy to avoid betting on just one candidate -- or even party.

Lawrence A. Sucharow, a lawyer who specializes in large securities class-action cases, has given a total of $10,150 to the campaigns of six candidates from both parties: Fred D. Thompson, John Edwards, Gov. Bill Richardson, Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Mr. Biden and Mrs. Clinton.

David S. Mack, a New Jersey real estate developer and vice chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, gave to five candidates: $4,600 each to Mr. Biden and Mrs. Clinton, and $2,300 each to Mr. Giuliani, Mr. Thompson and Mitt Romney.

Giving to four candidates across party lines has become almost ordinary among the limousine set. John Catsimatidis, who owns the Gristedes supermarket chain, gave to the Biden, Dodd, Clinton and Giuliani campaigns. Richard S. Fuld Jr., chairman and chief executive of Lehman Brothers, gave to the Dodd, McCain, Clinton and Obama campaigns.

Then there are the hedge fund managers, men with wealth and power enough to blow around the currencies of a small country. Paul Tudor Jones, one of the world's wealthiest hedge fund managers, gave to the Giuliani, McCain, Romney and Obama organizations.

Donald Trump gave $600 to the Clinton campaign. But his son Donald Jr. gave to both Mrs. Clinton and to Mr. Giuliani, as did his wife, the model Melania Trump.

Others hew closely to a single party, while still spreading their wealth.

Agnes Gund, president emerita of the Museum of Modern Art, gave to the Edwards, Richardson, Clinton and Obama campaigns, as did the actress and former talk show host Rosie O'Donnell.

On the Republican side, Jay Cross, president of the New York Jets, donated to the campaigns of Mr. McCain, Mr. Giuliani and Mr. Romney. So did Donald M. Kendall, the retired chairman and chief executive of PepsiCo.

Mr. Sheinkopf said people across the country who give to multiple campaigns often hope for special protection of their business interests, or for heightened access, or for favors later.

But, in his experience, Mr. Sheinkopf said, for a few well-heeled New Yorkers, the check writing is almost a sport.

''That is unique to New York,'' Mr. Sheinkopf said. ''You have a whole group of people who write checks and for whom that is the significant act.''

Given the presence of a woman, an African-American and a Mormon among the candidates, the pull of what is often called identity politics may be stronger in this election.

The film actors Morgan Freeman and Eddie Murphy, along with the Broadway actress LaChanze, have all supported Mr. Obama's campaign. Lisa Hopkins, a singer who was a member of the Tony award-winning cast of ''La Boh?'' and was raised a Mormon, contributed to Mr. Romney's campaign.

Letty Cottin Pogrebin, a prominent feminist, author and co-founder of Ms. Magazine, and her daughter Abigail, a writer who often speaks in public with her mother, are starkly divided between Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama.

The mother sees Mrs. Clinton's candidacy as a seminal moment in the nation's history, with a woman of integrity, ability and seasoning ready to steer the nation toward a period of redemption. The daughter doesn't quibble with that assessment, but she has seen in Mr. Obama a ''clarity and authenticity'' that led her to get involved in politics for the first time in her 42 years.

Abigail Pogrebin found the breach with her mother more difficult that she would have expected, but she believes so deeply in her choice that she continues to ask acquaintances for money, something she never imagined herself doing before.

''I don't feel like it's a hard phone call to make or a hard e-mail to write, because I really believe in him,'' Ms. Pogrebin said.

CHART: NEW YORK BANKROLLS PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNS: New York is one of the deepest wells for presidential campaign donations, and the city's rich and famous have been active in financing the candidates. (Source: Federal Election Commission)